And that was the last line he heard too, the words faded out and so did he, wondering at the sudden weightless feeling that had overcome him, like he was floating above the mattress. He slept.

When Albert woke up, this time the tent moved immediately into focus, like it used to in the good old days, before this new trend of someone bashing him on the head every few hours had taken off. He looked around him. Colby was still standing in the tent, looking down at him.

‘How are you feeling?’ he asked, almost as soon as Albert had opened his eyes.

‘Much better.’ He sat up, noticing with relief that his head did not swim, and his legs, although far from being pillars of steel, did feel equal to the task of supporting him.

‘Theo?’

Colby shook his head, the worry lines on his face visible even in the dim light of the tent. ‘I’m sorry, Albert, but there’s no news yet.’

Albert felt like he’d been kicked again, only this time in the solar plexus. ‘Well, that’s not good enough,’ he said. ‘They’ll just have to keep looking.’

Colby looked at him strangely.

‘What? What is it, Colby?’

‘You did say you’d known Theo just about the better part of two days, didn’t you?’

‘Yes. So?’

‘So pardon my asking, but that’s an awfully short time—I mean, I get that you’re worried, everyone’s worried, but—look, anyway, bottom line is, what is it with you two?’

Albert looked down at his feet. Colby was right. It had been just a couple of days since he’d met her. Granted a lot had happened in those two days, but still! So why was he so worried about her?

As he sat there, an image of Theo floated into his mind—upturned nose and tangled hair framing those big brown eyes, eyes sparkling with mischief; then another one, of her taking on Ollie at June’s apartment, then standing up to Colby and his men to protect him, Albert, jumping forward to offer to share her tent with him, winking as she made the offer, saying that …

He looked up, straight at Colby, meeting his eye unblinkingly. ‘We’re a team,’ he said.

Colby looked at him for a moment, then a look of understanding came into his grey eyes. He nodded. ‘Like that, huh? OK. Although, if you’re planning to join the search, take it from me—it’s a bad idea. To begin with, the commander won’t take lightly to volunteers for official force business, and anyway, there are enough and more people out there looking. So what do we do now?’